Jason Whitely, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth 10 p.m. EDT September 15, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was detained after police said a suspicious device was found inside his pencil box at MacArthur High School.(Photo: WFAA)

IRVING, Texas — A Texas high school student said school officials overreacted and called police after mistakenly thinking a clock he invented looked like a fake bomb.

Irving police detained 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, a freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, on Monday.

Officers said the clock and wires inside his Vaultz pencil case looked like a hoax bomb to them.

But Ahmed — an engineering student who has won awards for his inventions — said he created the clock over the weekend, and brought it to school to show an engineering teacher.

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, shows the device that raised suspicions at MacArthur High School. (Photo: WFAA)

According to Irving police, Ahmed's case contained a digital clock that the student had taken apart and rearranged. Police said the student had the briefcase in his English class, where he plugged it into an electrical outlet and it started to make noise.

Ahmed said his English teacher confiscated his case. A few hours later, the student said the school’s principal and resource officer pulled him out of class to question him.

Officers said Ahmed was being "passive aggressive" in his answers to their questions, and didn't have a "reasonable answer" as to what he was doing with the case. Investigators said he told them that it was just a clock that he was messing around with.

Police confiscated the case along with Ahmed's tablet computer. No charges were filed, and Ahmed was released to his parents.

MacArthur High School student Ahmed Mohamed talks about the invention that got him in trouble. (Photo: WFAA)

But the Dallas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Ahmed was targeted because of his religious and racial identity. CAIR said it is also concerned some of the student's rights may have been violated.

“I think this wouldn’t even be a question if his name wasn't Ahmed Mohamed,” said Alia Salem, executive director of CAIR’s North Texas chapter. “He is an excited kid who is very bright and wants to share it with his teachers.”

In addition to calling police, Ahmed said the principal suspended him for three days.

The principal referred questions to the district, which released a statement: "We always ask our students and staff to immediately report if they observe any suspicious items and/or suspicious behavior."

Ahmed, his father, and attorneys with CAIR said they plan to meet with the principal and the police chief Wednesday.

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